Morocco

Lagniappe Award, Film Sociatey of New Orleans, USA
Max-Ophuls-Festival 1997, Saarbrücken, Germany
International Film Festival Locarno 1997, Switzerland
Bergamo International Film Meeting 1997, Italy
Solothurn Film Festival 1997, Switzerland
Festival International du Cinéma Ste. Thérèse 1997, Canada
Festival Internacional de Cinema Figueira da Foz 1997, Portugal
New Orleans Film and Video Festival 1997, USA
New York Independent Film Festival 1998, USA
Calcutta Film Festival 1997, India
Ankara Film Festival 1999, Turkey

«The third film in the competition confirms the notion that we supposed at the beginning of the festival, i.e. that the quality of the films shown has improved in the last years. This means basically two things: first that the average worldwide production of films is in good standing and health, and secondly that the organizers of the Bergamo festival did a good job in their selection of the works. This is reflected in the film «Morocco» which we saw on Monday, (…) a very interesting film, well made, with a captivating plot, and intelligent in its mise-en-scene. (…)
The story is complex, but this is clearly not the filmmaker’s primary concern. What seems to interest him is the relation between the observing eye and the object of observation (…). The film is something of a mix between Alfred Hitchcock’s «Rear Window» and a film like «Ice» by Robert Kramer. From the former, Matter borrows the idea of a man who from his own apartment spies (and photographs) the activities occuring in his neighbors’ apartment, culminating in the conviction that he has witnessed a homicide. But the film, like «Ice», vacillates between the documenary and the dreamlike, where the line between fantasy and reality is blurred. Matter is nonetheless skillful at putting together the three different stories, enriching them with a touch of mystery and intrigue that serves to heighten the suspense.
All this is played, however, like a game of chess where each player is anticipating the opponents next move; including the spectator, called to insert himself in the void between the sense and the ‘sensed’, to harvest there the meaning of the discourse. At a certain point, it is pleasant to get lost in the intrigue (…) and enjoy the beautiful b&w photography by Dave Powers and also admire the ability of the author to maintain an equilibrium between theme and plot (which is not easy to accomplish).»
Eco di Bergamo, Italy

«We would have given the award (of the Bergamo Film Festival) to «Morocco», (…) a film that explores new territory. (It’s) film noir revisited, with an existentialistic touch…»
Eco di Bergamo, Italy

«Behind each mountain there’s another mountain… And it is precisely this tendentially impenetrable realization, raised to the height of epistomology and cinematic philosophy, that stands at the center of «Morocco», a low budget feature by Frank Matter, which the Basel filmmaker shot in New York. The exegetic construction of his many-faceted manipulation of dream and realitiy is fully visible in the form of a poster of M.C. Escher’s «Relativity», that is hanging on a door. And just as Escher’s work of art offers no way out, so the film winds around itself. It’s cleverly plotted, and, given the low budget, well made…»
Der Bund, Bern, Switzerland

«Morocco» is the fine debut of the Swiss filmmaker Frank Matter. (…) The mise en scene is that of a classical crime movie, but soon the film moves from the reality of the plot to the more mysterious, almost metaphysical inner reality of the protagonist, thereby leaving the audience often in a state of ambiguity (…) The spectator constantly has to ask himself if what he sees is the (cinematic) reality or the phantastic imaginations of the protagonist. And like the main character claims he has witnessed a murder but is unable to prove it, so the spectator thinks he has seen real events, but it was just cinema: great cinema.»
Cineforum Nr. 362, Italy

«Frank Matter (shows), that creativity isn’t necessarily dependent on the size of your budget.»
La Liberté/Le Courier, Fribourg, Switzerland

«Frank Matter shot «Morocco» in New York on an amazingly small budget. It was made a film within a film, or a film within the imagination, as a thriller we fall into, a play with the genre. (…) Image by image the camera records details, allowing the atmosphere within a bright room to create its effect, the objects on a desk, a bookshelf, and savors the grey shades of the black-and-white photography.»
Verena Zimmermann, Neue Mittelland-Zeitung, Solothurn, Switzerland